Tag: Follow the Money
Do Some Surgical Implants Do More Harm Than Good. New Yorker
I’m still working on my shelter-in-place project called “Deep Toughness: the cutting edge science behind ancient practice and modern health hacks” (still working on the title). The list of implants that carry well-documented dangers goes on. In 2004, there was a recall, affecting ninety-six thousand people, of two types of cardiac stent, for design flaws…
Read MoreFirst Do No Harm: Harrowing Tale of A’s Player Micah Bowie
This is a horribly sad story of medical interventions going awry. Back pain which continued after retirement in 2008. Treatments were ineffective, and in 2016 he ended up getting a spinal cord stimulator. Unfortunately the battery migrated somehow into his liver, diaphragm and then lung. He’s had horrible breathing trouble since, and it’s a…
Read MoreStents and Bypass Surgery No Better than Medications for Narrowed Arteries in Patients Without Angina
” This is far from the first study to suggest that stents and bypass are overused. But previous results have not deterred doctors, who have called earlier research on the subject inconclusive and the design of the trials flawed. Previous studies did not adequately control for risk factors, like LDL cholesterol, that might have…
Read MoreThe Tyranny of the Logical: or Biological plausibility
I am linking to a thorough and thoughtful article by David Epstein . The name of his article is “When Evidence Says No But Doctors Say Yes”. Careful readers of my blog know that this is something that I’ve been concerned about almost since my blog’s inception. It is a phenomenon that I’ve called the…
Read MoreStem Cell Injections Flourish With Little Evidence That They Work
I had no idea that these were not fully vetted by the FDA! As the article points out, these injections are extremely common and some insurance even pays. Wow. The FDA has taken an “industry friendly” position on allowing these injections. Are they safe? Do they work? Who knows? Money to be made! Astonishing. Apparently…
Read MoreTiger Woods Won the Back Surgery Lottery
That is the actual title of this very important discussion of spinal fusion surgery. Go the acupuncture route. Safer, cheaper, no opioids involved. Reading through this article, I want to copy almost the entire thing. This is information that is crucial and to call it “under-reported” is the understatement of the decade. An outcome like…
Read MoreMillions of Patients Affected by Faulty Medical Devices
My sort of standard advice to people is to not take any medication, nor use any new medical technique less than 7 years old. Often drugs and devices are rushed to market. Safer to let someone else take the risk. Unfortunately, in the case of pelvic mesh, it had been out for 20 years before…
Read MoreWomen Researchers at Salk Institute Discrimination Case
Such a sad story. A waste of talent and who knows what they might have accomplished if they had been given the resources. I’m quite sure this is common across the sciences. My first love was science and research. I worked in a research lab for a year after graduating in Biochemistry at Cal, applied…
Read MoreIBM Watson AI doctor Not Fulfilling Hype
The push to get rid of human workers will never cease. Just like robots, AI diagnosis and treatment still not ready for prime time. I’m not saying that they won’t be in the future, but for now, human intervention still needed.
Read MoreThe Challenge of Going Off of Psychiatric Drugs
This article is a must read for anyone who has been on psychiatric medications for any length of time. It can be agony to get off of them, and debilitating to take them over time. There is so much in this article, and very important information. I see this so often in my practice where…
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